Qantas takes delivery of its eighth Boeing 787-9

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Melbourne - On November 22, the eighth Boeing 787-9 of Qantas has arrived in Melbourne a little before 11.00 PM local after a 16-hour flight.

Baptized Great Barrier Reef and registered as VH-ZNH, the new Boeing 787-9 of the Australian flag carrier is the last copy of an initial order for eight aircraft of the same type.

On May 2018, Qantas has placed an order for six more Boeing 787-9, which will be delivered from late 2019 to 2020.

These six aircraft will fill the gap generated by the withdrawal of the carrier's Boeing 747 fleet by the end of 2020. To date, Qantas operates nine Boeing 747-400.

The airline uses its 787-9s on the routes Los Angeles-Melbourne, San Francisco-Melbourne, Melbourne-Perth-London Heathrow flights, as well as Brisbane-Los Angeles-New York JFK services.

With the arrival of eighth Dreamliner, Qantas also plans to deploy its next-generation widebodies to Asia for flights to Hong Kong from Melbourne (December 13), from Brisbane (December 19), and from Sydney ( March 30, 2019).

The 787-9s of the Australian carrier are configured to accommodate 236 passengers - 42 in Business Class in a 1-2-1 configuration, 28 in Premium Economy (2-3-2) and 166 in Economy (3-3-3).